OUT OF BREATH

For many years we lived in Papua New Guinea at an altitude that was over one mile high. We got used to it, although I would feel uncomfortable in my breathing if we were over 10,000 feet for a while.

I did a lot of jogging and running for years and even when it was tough to breathe, I could keep going for a while longer. However, I am now in my 90s and when I walk about a mile every morning, it is not a “brisk” walk. Nevertheless, and even at my slower pace, I sometimes need to “catch my breath,” although I am thankful to God for the health and strength I have. 

Of course, I can’t “catch my breath” literally, like I once caught a baseball, but I can imagine the image of being in pursuit of my breath. Of course, when someone is “breathing their last breath” that is not humorous at all, and breathing is difficult and there is little breath to catch. The person is about to die. For example, when Rachel was “breathing her last breath,” she named her son Benoni [Benjamin]. (Genesis 35.18)

The first man, Adam, was formed out of some soil and God breathed life into him. God gave him the breath from his own nostrils so the man could live. (Genesis 2.7)

When someone is “breathless,” it can also mean that they are amazed and wonder what is happening. The queen of Sheba felt that way when she met Solomon and saw his palace and all that was associated with him. And we, likewise, should be breathless at the mighty acts of God.

Job acknowledged (7.7) that his life was only “a breath” and, when he could hardly breathe, that the end of his life was near (17.1). He knew that if God took back the breath of life, he would “turn into dust again.” (34.15) He also said that the Spirit of God had made him and the breath of the Almighty “gives me life.” (33.4)

When Jesus died on the cross, “he gave a loud cry and breathed his last.” (Matthew 27.50) Likewise, when our breath is finally gone, we will be dead. On earth, there will be no longer “a breath of fresh air” for us. But, of course, that is not the end for Christians—there is an afterlife in the spirit. 

The words for spirit and breath are often associated semantically in the Bible and across cultures as a life-giving force, sometimes linked in a divine manner. For example, the Greek word pneuma (as in pneumatology) connotes wind or breath and can be representative of something that is “life-giving.”

In the Kewa language of Papua New Guinea, the word for wind is po-ripu (wind-grass), indicating that we can know the wind is blowing by seeing the grass move. The word po alone means wind or air. The word for “to breathe” is komo pia and to “catch one’s breath is komo mea (breath to get),

The word for “spirit” in Kewa always referred to an “ancestral spirit” and all such important spirits had names. Ancestral spirits demanded attention and were not, in general, helpful. The Kewa word for spirit was therefore not used in expressions for the Holy Spirit. The translators therefore compromised and transliterated the word as Oli Spiriti. (There is no /h/ in Kewa and all words end with a vowel.)

I read a quote (online) that says, “Breath is the finest gift of nature,” but it is really a gift of God, not of nature. We can enjoy our breath of fresh air for a period of time, but the breath of the Holy Spirit can sustain us forever.

It is wonderful to know the Holy Spirit is filling us with his spirit, allowing us to breath the fullness of his strength.

The Psalter Hymnal contains the song “Breathe on me breath of God with these lyrics:

Breathe on me, Breath of God, fill me with life anew,  that I may love the way you love, and do what you would do.

Breathe on me, Breath of God, until my heart is pure,  until my will is one with yours, to do and to endure.

Breathe on me, Breath of God, so shall I never die,  but live with you the perfect life for all eternity.

It expresses my desire to be filled with the love and purity of God, which will happen in its fullness when we die and are in heaven.

Karl Franklin